In the Long Run

They swarm and cluster on the warm, southern wall and door of my house. When the door opens they teem through the opening in a marauding frenzy. And if the door isn’t open, they slip in through cracks and fissures to join forces with the invaders already inside.

My house is crawling with boxelder bugs. They march along as if they have a purpose, although I’m sure they have none, save to vex and annoy me. They are actually quite harmless, but I still don’t want them clambering everywhere throughout my house.

I’ve found them on the walls, carpet, and drapes. They poke along on my couch, and slip down the sides of my bathtub. Since they can fly, I wonder why they don’t fly out of the tub, but they never do. But they do, of course, like to fly off the dining room curtains, over the shoulders of my dinner guests and right into the enchiladas being served.

So I play the Glad Game like Pollyanna. As she says, the game is “to just find something about everything to be glad about”, no matter what it is. Even boxelder bugs. So…

I’m glad we have the boxelder bugs because that means it has been a warmer than normal fall.

I’m glad we have boxelder bugs, and not cockroaches, or worse, mice.

I’m glad they don’t sting, and their rare bites don’t hurt.

I’m glad that we have boxelder bugs, because now my son vacuums frequently because he detests the hoards crawling around by the ping pong table.

I’m glad for the joy it gives my husband when he can educate me on scientific classification and the anatomical make-up of the boxelder bugs. “You know that boxelder bugs are true bugs,” he pontificates. “They’re of the order Hemiptera, which means half-wing. The thorax and abdomen appear to be fused, but really are not, if you look closely at them. Don’t worry about them eating your enchiladas—they only suck plant juice through their proboscises.”

The Glad Game only works to a certain extent. I’ll be glad when the boxelder bugs are gone.

Posted by Cyppy at 3:34 PM